Category: IWSG

Living The Dream #IWSG

  By IWSG

December 4 question – Let’s play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Tonja Drecker, Beverly Stowe McClure, Nicki Elson, Fundy Blue, and Tyrean Martinson!

*****

Funny how well this topic ties into Monday’s Blog hop.

So let’s pretend. I’ve changed one little thing and suddenly I’m a best selling author. I no longer have to work my day job and I have all the time in the world to write. Hey, this is a dream, right?

I’m living in a mountain cabin that has a creek and a small lake nearby. I love to write sitting by the flowing water, and the lake is big enough for my husband to fish in. The cabin has enough room that we aren’t cramped when my daughter and her family come to visit. Of course, it magically has internet despite being in the middle of nothing. And speaking of magic, the house would clean itself. 

Image by ArtTower from Pixabay

Because I have all the time in the world to write, I’ve started my series about the gritty female PI in Pittsburgh. It’s a lot edgier than the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, but my audience loves her. too. And I’m even fitting in more of the Free Wolves books.

 

Oh, and I get to travel to writers’ conferences and book signings more often. That way I can still improve my craft, meet existing fans, and hopefully make new ones.

That sounds pretty darn good to me! What am I missing? I’ll take suggestions in the comments!

 

 

Strange things in research #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
November 6 question – What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever googled in researching a story?
 
The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie!
 
Good question! This week I googled myself for a blog post, and that was pretty strange. I’m fairly boring, but I did find people who shared my name that were more interesting. (See Monday’s blog post.)
 
I google a lot about guns for both of my series. But that’s not really strange.
 
More interesting, to me anyway, are the fancy driving stunts I search for, and how do do them. Not that I would ever try, but a couple of my characters do, as a hobby of sorts. And to evade pursuers, be they the bad guys or the good guys.
 
Then there’s the self-defense techniques the heroine in my mystery series uses. Thank heavens because she’s always getting herself into trouble.
 
But even those aren’t strange. You know when I get into really interesting topics? 
 
When I get off track. 
 
When I see something shiny and go down the rabbit hole. My blog post about googling my name led me to a page about about bridge jumping. (Bridge Day in West Virginia). And the report of two political opponents who had a gun fight after a meeting.  Looking up information on jet boats in Oregon led me to the web page of a lodge in Oregon you can only get to by boat. 
 
Then there’s the stuff that comes up at work. We have interesting discussions. Like the gradual salt intrusion into the fresh water aquifers of Florida. Or the logos of car manufactures no one has ever heard of. Or the farthest geographic compass point location for each direction for the continental Unites States. (Hint- at least one of them you would never guess!)
 
Still, I don’t know if I’d rank any of these as  strange. I’d call them fascinating. 
 
How about you? Google anything strange lately? 
 
 
 
 

To Read or Not to Read #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
October 2 optional question:
It’s been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don’t enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?
 
The awesome co-hosts for the October 2 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!
 
Full Disclosure: I am a reader. I’ve been a reader since I first figured out the meaning of those weird shapes in books. I used to read a book a day. I love to read. I’ve slowed down, but I still read. I can’t imagine not reading.
 
Now, I have made the decision to not read books in the same genre I am writing in. That satisfies my need to keep my books fresh and original.  But I write in two different genres, so I can trade off, and there are plenty of books  still out there that I can read.
 
And the concept of ideas being all yours- I can’t fathom it. My ideas are a conglomeration of things I read, things I see, people I talk to … you get the idea. Sure, I try to put those ideas together in a new-to-me way, but I don’t downplay the influence of the world around me. After all, we all know there’s nothing new under the sun.
 
I find no shame in building upon the legacy of our ancestors. Sure, the language has changed and vocabulary shifted, but isn’t that what we, as authors are still doing? Sitting around a campfire and telling our stories?
 
So, read on, fellow authors. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Finding a Place to Write #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
September 4 question – If you could pick one place in the world to sit and write your next story, where would it be and why?
The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Gwen Gardner,Doreen McGettigan, Tyrean Martinson, Chemist Ken, andCathrina Constantine!
 
There’s this little lake I know, not exactly in the mountains, but in the high plains. The altitude is about 8000 feet. It’s got a wonderful view of several mountain ranges, depending upon which direction you look. On a normal days, there’s at the most, three or four people there- more cows than people, but they are on the other side. The cows, that is.
 
Ducks, geese and the occasional seagull swim on the lake’s surface. Along the shoreline, songbirds play hide-and-go-seek among the bushes. Their songs mingle with the lowing of the cattle.
 
There’s not an electric plugin to be had, so once the battery on the laptop is dead, it’ll be writing with pen and paper. The nearest town, population under 600, is fifteen miles away. 
 
But to sit there in the shade of one of the few trees (or bring my own) and write! No distractions, no cell phone service, no internet, no one bothering me. That would be heaven.
 
So I’m not going to tell you where it is. You know the song…you call someplace paradise, you kiss it goodbye. I’m not ready to for that.
 

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Writing Kryptonite #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By IWSG

August 5, 2019

What is your writing Kryptonite?

What’s the one thing that could make me give up writing?

I almost did, a few years back, but not on purpose. And you may have heard the first part of this before, but keep reading. 

That was when poetry was my focus in writing. For many years, the words came easily. I have notebooks and binders filled with my poems. But somewhere along the way, I lost the words. I was doing good if I wrote two poems in an entire year. It hurt. It hurt bad enough that I considered giving up writing altogether.

But a story floated around in my head and wouldn’t go away. It wouldn’t work as a poem. So, I wrote it as a novel. At least, I tried. And words came back to me.

Now, I’m happily working on the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie series. But I’ve been tempted to give up. Why?

I’ve been hit by my Kryptonite-lack of sales. Why write when no one is reading? A book isn’t complete until someone reads it. Plus, it costs money to get a book ready for publication. If I can’t recoup those costs, it’s like throwing money away.

Interior artwork from Superman: Secret Origin vol. 1, 1 (November 2009 DC Comics)
Art by Gary Frank

But then I remember the people  who encourage me and like my stories. The ones that buy them even if they don’t write reviews. So, I keep trying. That’s the advice you hear in the writers’ group-keep writing! Maybe one of these days I’ll write a best seller. (I also hear a lot of writers are having a hard time, not just me. Go buy a book even if it isn’t mine!)

So, I’ve been weakened by one form of Kryptonite but not knocked out. I’m still writing. (I should break 26000 words tonight!) Still, I know there are other forms of the nasty stuff. I hope I don’t run into them. 

Because I have an idea for another series. I’ve written one draft of the book, but the time frame and location are all wrong. How would you like a story about a gritty female PI with a darker edge? She’d be no Harmony Duprie.

But while I think about it, I’m heading over to see what the other authors in the hop believe their Kryptonite is. You can too, by following the links below. 

August 5, 2019

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Rules:1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Pieces of Me #IWSG

  By IWSG

 

Welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support group blog hop for July. 

July 3 question: What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?

I think every one of my major characters has a small piece of me written into their personality. But the one that has the most of me is Harmony Duprie, the main character in my female sleuth series. At least, that was true in the first book. She has grown and evolved in each book, and has developed her own unique personality. In fact, I’ve changed the series name to recognize the fact. What were once called the Oak Grove Mysteries are now the Harmony Duprie Mysteries.

One easy to see similarity between Harmony and myself is our profession. She’s en ex-librarian turned internet researcher. I planned on being a librarian when I was growing up, and took some college classes in the field. I even worked as a part-time librarian in a small town for a year or so. 

Of course, as a librarian, Harmony has a love of reading. I’ve given her tastes similar to mine. That erotic novel about the billionaire dinosaur-shifter president? She won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. But she’s more than willing to tackle the driest historical accounts to find the interesting tidbits of information.

Another aspect of my personality that Harmony shares is her need for having time alone. Although she enjoys her friends, there are times that she just wants to be by herself. Her little apartment serves as her sanctuary. I have my writing cave.

But I keep discovering aspects of her that have no basis in my likes and dislikes. She likes to start her morning with a cup of coffee—not unusual. (But I don’t like coffee at all and don’t drink it!) here’s a quick snipptet from the first book, The Marquesa’s Necklace, that features her habit:

I must have set my alarm out of force of habit, because I woke up earlier than I needed to. I was sitting on the second-to-bottom step drinking my coffee, reading the paper, and patting Piper when Elijah arrived. He put his coffee down, pulled a doggie treat out of his pocket, and tossed it to Piper. Piper didn’t bark or growl or anything. He just wagged his tail, gobbled up the goodie, and allowed Elijah to pat him.

“What’s up with that?” I asked, astonished. “Piper doesn’t let strangers touch him, not ever!”

Elijah picked up his coffee and sat down beside me. “Piper and I reached an agreement,” he said, picking up the front section of the paper. I was done with it, and had moved on to the sports section. “I bring him dog cookies, and he lets me help keep an eye on you. He figured it was a fair trade, from what I can tell.”

I snorted into my coffee cup. “Sounds to me like you got the raw end of the deal.”

“Depends on your point of view, I guess.” He avoided my eyes and I didn’t press the issue. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep to worry about what he meant.

We sat in companionable silence, sipping our coffees and enjoying the crisp morning air. It wouldn’t be much longer that I could do this. Once winter arrived, I’d be banished back to my apartment. At least until spring. Winters tend to be long here.

Of course I didn’t tell him, but I enjoyed having Elijah share the moment with me. He would be gone all too soon. I’d lost my ghost in the library.

 

If you want to find out more about Harmony, check out her stories HERE.

Don’t forget to check out how other IWSG authors share their personal traits with their characters. 

The awesome co-hosts for the July 3 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, Natalie Aguirre,Jennifer Lane, MJ Fifield, Lisa Buie-Collard, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!
 

Favorite Genre #IWSG

  By IWSG

IWSG Day Question: Of all the genres you read and write, which is your favorite to write in and why?

The awesome co-hosts for the June 5 posting of the IWSG are Diane Burton, Kim Lajevardi, Sylvia Ney, Sarah Foster, Jennifer Hawes, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!
 

Here’s the thing. I’ll read just about anything, from sci-fi to mysteries to biographies. As long as it’s well-written, I’m game. I’m not crazy about erotica, but if it’s got a decent plot, I can read it.

Obviously, I don’t write in every genre I read. I only write in two-urban fantasy/paranormal and mysteries. (I’ve tried writing in a third, romance, and wasn’t much good at it!)

I freely admit that the mysteries are better sellers than the fantasies. And I love my main character, Harmony Duprie. But the genre I prefer? The urban fantasy.

There’s so much freedom with what I can do with my characters. Sure, I’ve set guidelines for how my world works, but I can also break the rules. And, I do! Or, at least I twist the rules to match what the plot demands.

I’ve written three books so far in the Free Wolves series. At this point, I’m not sure when I’ll add another one. Sure, ideas for more are floating around in my head, demanding my attention, but I’m holding off for now. (But don’t worry, I don’t write cliffhanger endings, so you can read the books and not feel cheated.) 

If you are interested in the books, you can grab more information HERE. 

And you might want to check out some of the other insecure writers below.

Telling Secrets #OpenBook Blog hop

  By IWSG

May 27, 2019

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

You mean you haven’t found them yet? 

When I wrote Wolves’ Pawn, my first book, I included some symbolism I thought everyone would catch. I wasn’t secretive about it at all, and worried I’d made it too glaringly obvious. Here we are, almost five years later, and not one reader has mentioned it. So, maybe it was so obvious it wasn’t worth saying anything about it.

Then I wrote The Marquesa’s Necklace, and, just for fun, put some subtle references to Wolves’ Pawn in the story. Surely, some sharp-eyed reader would catch them and point them out. I got crickets.

 

 

 

 

I was in the middle of writing Her Ladyship’s Ring when the inspiration for Wolves’ Knight struck. Yes, that event is blatantly documented in Ring. No one has ever asked about it.

Sure, I know that people who read urban fantasy/paranormal don’t necessarily read my female sleuth mysteries. I get that. And I’m probably overthinking the whole thing. After all, my books are written as entertainment, not to convey some deep dark secret or life lesson. That doesn’t stop me from hoping someone will pick up on the secrets.

It’s been five years, so I’ll share the secret from the Wolves’ Pawn. 

Dot, my female MC, has a Native American background as well as being a wolf-shifter. I wrote in frequent references to crows being around her.  Here are a few:

A crow cawed overhead, breaking her musings. It was good timing—or maybe a warning.

Still, she delayed going to the house. A large crow landed near her and cocked its head, staring at her. She wondered what message it carried.

A noise broke her meditation, and she opened her eyes to find a large crow sitting in front of her. It cocked its head, uttered a single caw, and flew away. One large black feather drifted down from the sky. Dot picked it up and stuck it into the scarf wrapped around her arm. In a mirror she had brought along, she painted four pink stripes on one cheek, symbolizing the wolf. On the other cheek, the design was a blue and green globe, in honor of the Earth Mother. On a whim, she added two arcs over the circle—the crow. She knew the painting was not traditional, but thought her ancestors would forgive her.

What I was trying to insinuate was that the crow was Dot’s spirit animal. She may not recognize it, but  the crows do. Which is a bit weird, for a wolf-shifter to have a spirit animal, but in my mind, it works.

So that’s one of my secrets. There are more, but hopefully you’ll read my books with a ‘different’ eye and try to find them.

Have you stumbled across any of my secrets? You can share them in the comments and see if anyone else has found them, too.

May 27, 2019

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

One Wish for Writing #IWSG

  By IWSG

 IWSG Day Question: If you could use a wish to help you write just one scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be?

First, lets thank our co-hosts for this month

I thought hard about this question. Since I work so hard to craft my stories, the idea of having someone else help me write a scene or chapter doesn’t feel right.

And I thought about a sex scene. I’ve never written one because my stories don’t need them. I’ve been tempted to try one, but haven’t gathered up the courage. I’ve read so many bad ones, and I’m afraid mine would be worse.

I sometimes wish I had a magic wand for my opening chapter. In my current WIP, I re-wrote the first chapter at least four times. and that was before I started editing. I had to go back and change it as my characters revealed hidden parts of the story I hadn’t planned for.

But I can’t let someone else write the beginning of my book. Then it wouldn’t be mine.

I’ve been known to write a fight scene or two, and I struggle to get enough action without getting carried away with it. Especially when I write a fight between two wolf shifters. How many ways can I describe wolves trying to prove their dominance? Keeping fights fresh across the series is a challenge. I wouldn’t mind a different set of eyes helping me develop my scene.

So that’s my wish. Help with future fight scenes. I’m interested to see what everyone else asks for.

But before we go, I’d like to welcome you to my new website. I’d be honored  if you would take a moment to look around. And even happier if you would follow me on here. See the subscribe box to the right? Yeah, that one. Go ahead, enter your email. That way you won’t miss any of my posts.

If not, I hope to see you next month for another #IWSG post!